


My Knight in Shining Armor

by ximeria



Series: 2014 Fic-A-Week (all the XMFC AUs) [26]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 17:53:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1866987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ximeria/pseuds/ximeria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On an average ordinary day, Erik gets more action than he'd bargained for. News of a job interview, robots wreaking havoc in New York, Azazel's brand of humor - and not to mention; the most amazing man in a suit of armor. And no, Erik's pretty damned sure Tony Stark doesn't speak with a British accent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Knight in Shining Armor

Erik sat back and stared at the email on his phone, his cup of coffee completely forgotten. 

Across from him, Azazel raised an eyebrow at him and kicked his shoe lightly. "Good news?" he asked.

"You might say that," Erik replied, still staring at the email, thinking he was seeing things. "I apparently have a job interview at Stark Xavier Labs tomorrow morning."

Azazel's eyes widened and he grinned widely. "That is good news, my friend."

Erik nodded. "It really is."

"You going to call Edie and tell her?" Azazel's tail flicked lazily from side to side, drawing the curiosity of a small boy at the next table, who looked a little like Mowgli in the thrall of Kaa's hypnotic eyes.

Erik shook his head. "No, not until I've been," he admitted. He knew his mother would be over the top about him getting this interview, but he didn't want to get her hopes up until the interview was over and done with. And preferably he'd wait until he'd heard back from it as well.

"I'd normally say, 'just be yourself'," Azazel said, "but-"

Erik snorted. "Save it, I know - I've sabotaged enough job interviews in my younger years."

Azazel sniggered and took a sip of his espresso. "You make yourself sound like an old man."

Sticking his tongue out at Azazel, Erik just grinned. But it was the truth. He'd been really good at screwing up his own chances when he'd been younger. Part of it had been attitude, part of it bad judgement and with a dash of bad luck. He emptied his own cup of coffee and gestured towards the street outside. "How does a drink sound?" he asked. He felt like celebrating already - because just being asked in for the interview was a step up for him.

"You buying?" Azazel asked shrewdly.

"Of course I am," Erik replied, rolling his eyes.

\---♦♦♦---

A couple of beers later they were walking down the street, Erik heading for the subway, Azazel heading for the apartment he kept. It would have been the perfect end to a nice day if not for the fact that all of the sudden all hell broke loose around them.

Small robots, no taller than his knees, skittered like vermin through the streets, causing electrical things to spark and blow up, windows smashed - and people fleeing left and right in panic. Well, some of them were - then there were the ones who instantly had their phones out to film it all. Something Erik would never understand.

"What the hell?" Erik grabbed the nearest two robots with his powers and pulled them apart, sparks flying everywhere.

"Ah, New York as we know and love it," Azazel muttered acidly, dancing among the things, his tail wreaking havoc among the small critters.

Erik rolled his eyes and reached out, finding as much of the moving menaces that he could around them and melting them into scrap metal.

"Ladies, gentlemen and however you may see yourselves," a voice broke through cheerily. "Please leave the area calmly, and please do not panic, as it will make things messier than they already are."

Erik turned around and stopped dead. All he could think was 'that's not Ironman is it?' and 'fuck that's hot.'

The latter was possibly due to all that _metal_ , beautifully sculptured - shiny surface and nothing of the hot rod red and gold that normally signified the Ironman suit. Of course it was coupled with the sweetest voice he'd heard outside of a bedroom ever.

"Stop drooling," Azazel said mockingly, dropping another of the little metal critters to the ground.

"I thought Ironman looked differently," Erik said to him, staring at the suited man gently moving people away from the chaos. "And that guy's not American."

"That's not Ironman," Azazel agreed.

Erik felt churning, molten feeling deep in his gut when the man turned his attention to them, a gentle head tilt noticeable even with the armour on.

"I see we have a bit of help here today," he said and Erik was fairly sure that if the suit had been capable, he'd have winked. "I suggest you two make your way further south of here. We'll clean up the mess."

As if to underline his words, something exploded overhead and metal hurled towards the ground. Azazel swore, popped out of existence and Erik found himself bent in half under the hulking mass of the armour. It did little to diminish the flare of arousal to be pressed against the metal.

Without much conscious thought, Erik diverted all the metal to the side, so it fell in a circle around them, the armour easily taking the brunt of concrete bits and pieces that Erik couldn't touch.

_"Professor, you there? Everything okay?"_

Erik could make out what sounded like radio communication - could feel it in the air around the helmet.

"I'm fine, Tony - I've found the most magnificent man with the most _groovy_ gift-"

_"Flirt later, Professor, get people to safety first."_

Erik almost laughed at the huff of indignation from inside the armour. "That's been taken care of, you maniac."

Erik couldn't help but stare and let his powers flow over his rescuer, the other man slowly straightening up and letting Erik stand on his own. Not that Erik was moving away. Not anytime soon.

"Well, get to safety, please?"

Erik swore he could hear a touch of regret in that lovely voice. And a moment later, he was on his own, in the middle of a street that looked as if someone had crumbled concrete all over the place. It took a moment before he could let out the whistle and get Azazel back. He couldn't even find it in him to be angry with him for disappearing so suddenly, not when Azazel was nursing a superficial bite that had torn most of the leather of his jacket through to the shoulder, a mangled metal critter in one hand and another dangling from his tail.

\---♦♦♦---

Erik sat through his interview with Miss Potts without too much trouble. He pushed the constant memories from the previous day out of his head as he stood and shook her hand, thanking her for her time. He'd actually found speaking to her very easy and her no nonsense, calm attitude had made it easier for him to sit through this interview than any he could recall having been in before.

As he went for the door, he felt something odd on the other side, realizing as the door opened that it had been a sleek sports wheelchair he'd felt. And for the second time in as many days, Erik felt the jolt of attraction. This time it wasn't the metal that attracted his attention first. This time it was the surprised look on the man's face, lightly parted red lips and incredibly blue eyes that reeled him in. Erik took a deep breath and stepped aside to let the man roll into the office before exiting himself.

He wasn't used to feeling attraction like this all that often and twice in such a short time…

"Ah, Charles," Miss Potts called out and Erik tried not to eavesdrop enough to get a full name. If he got lucky and ended up with the job, he might have a chance of meeting that gorgeous guy again.

Charles coughed and flushed lightly and ...winked at Erik before turning his attention to Miss Potts. The last Erik heard before the door closed was a low chuckle and "if he's one of the applicants, Pepper, hire him." as well as Miss Potts answer of "You're worse than Tony, Charles. We don't hire depending on the level of lust the applicants inspire in Tony _or_ you."

Erik was torn between the flush rising and heating his face and laughing out loud. As he stood in the elevator, he tried to place the voice. It had been quite familiar, the British dialect that he hadn't heard since the two years he'd spent in London. Halfway down, a suspicion bloomed in his chest.

No way.

No way in hell!

The cute guy in the wheelchair had sounded suspiciously like…

Erik leaned back against the welcoming metal of the elevator, covering his mouth with one hand. Something like a knock to a non-corporeal door made him straighten up, though.

_'I'm terribly sorry to ask this of you, but could you possibly get off on the 5th floor, go left outside the elevator and take the private elevator up to the 56th floor?'_

Erik stared at his reflection in the mirror lining the sides of the elevator. Without thinking, he reached out and pushed the button for the 5th floor. _'Telepath?'_ he tried carefully. Dared he even hope…?

A burst of joy washed over him and Erik swayed a bit on his feet.

 _'I'm terribly sorry about that,'_ the voice said, contrite inside his head.

 _'It's… okay,'_ Erik replied, stepping around the two suit clad women who got into the elevator on the 5th floor where he got off. And it was. Normally he was a little nervous around telepaths, but in this case intrigue was far more important than any hangups he might have.

He tried not to look too much out of place as he headed towards the private elevator. He stared at the doors and Erik realized he should have asked how to get in. Should have asked… well, he assumed it was Charles and the brush of warmth around his mind was answer enough. In answer to his unvoiced question, the doors of the elevator slid apart to allow him inside.

"First off," Charles said, when he greeted Erik at the elevator when he got off. "I am not putting you under pressure, I'm not being a perv, I'm not expecting you to pamper to me just because my last name is Xavier, because you're worried the job might slip you by - which by the way - you don't need to worry about - your credentials are impressive-"

"You talk a lot," was what Erik didn't manage to stop himself from saying. "Did we meet yesterday?" he asked, too curious not to. And hot damn, he hadn't expected to run into one of the company's head men.

Charles stopped his wheelchair where he'd been backing up to let Erik step into what looked like an incredible hybrid of a lab and an office. Erik was torn between staring at the room, the sleek sports model of a wheelchair and… well, Charles himself, who was really pretty to look at.

The flushed face this earned made Erik grin. "Don't eavesdrop unless you're ready to deal with what you hear," he warned Charles.

Charles coughed, laughed, then shrugged. "I guess. As for yesterday-"

"I won't tell anyone," Erik cut in. He didn't want Charles to think he was like that. "I just want to know what modifications that suit has been put through to accommodate you." 

Charles stared for a moment, then a slow grin spread on his face. "Well, I can't share secrets with you until you sign the contract - which, if you're really interested, Miss Potts is currently drawing up, but let's just say that unlike Tony's suit, mine is remote controlled and I use that as well as my powers to aid me - I don't do the battle stuff, just the crowd controlling."

Erik held up a hand to stop him. He stopped the thought forming in his mind of how he'd like to try to quiet Charles by kissing him, because that was most definitely too soon.

Charles stared at him in delight. "Day's still young - do you have anywhere to be or would you like to show me the designs you have in your briefcase - I'd like to see."

Erik narrowed his eyes. "Just so you can say that you didn't get me up here because of my pretty eyes?"

"Oh, she knows me too well, but it'd smart when Tony starts spouting the same shite," Charles shared with a wink. "Miss Potts said you had some interesting ideas for prototypes and that unlike Tony and I, you apparently have a better esthetic sense - she thinks I'm too too low key and Tony's too flashy.

Thinking of the Ironman suit, Erik made a face.

"Well, yes - but that's Tony for you," Charles replied with a laugh.

Erik thought of his agreement to meet with after the interview Azazel and then shook his head. "Let me send my friend a message so he doesn't think I've been mugged and left for dead somewhere," Erik said, taking out his phone.

It was worth seeing the bright, delighted smile on Charles' face. Christ, Erik was in deep here.

_\--A, bailing on dinner, networking, job is a go, I think. EL--_

The reply he got back made him smirk.

_\--Stark lure you in - and you'll never be allowed to leave the tower, princess? A--_

_\--If happens, I've found my knight in shining armor, TTYL, EL--_

Erik put the phone away and sat his briefcase down on the desk, taking the chair Charles was indicating to him. Maybe his luck was changing afterall?

The End

**Author's Note:**

> I literally have no excuse for this *smiles innocently*
> 
> I just had the menace of a plot bunny that suggested putting Charles in one of Tony's remote controlled suits - and possibly implementing it with Cerebro tech - and have Erik lust at the combination of all that metal, that voice, before he even comes eye to eye with Charles.
> 
> I also have to apologize to Miss Potts for saddling her not only with Tony, but Charles as well. That woman deserves a raise and a promotion.


End file.
